Would You Like That for Here or to Go?

Would You Like That for Here or to Go?

Americans are a quick-moving people. We like three-minute microwave meals and 20-minute workouts. Most of us have begun texting instead of phoning because who has time to wait for the phone to ring six times? And leaving a voicemail? Forget about it – voicemail takes too long to check. While these may be extreme examples of the hurried pace at which we live, we certainly don’t gather any moss. This is why mobile websites are an absolute necessity for businesses.

There is no doubt that, just as traditional websites became fixtures of the business world, so too are mobile websites becoming part of the standard. According to a recent CBS News report, 61% of consumers in the United States now own smartphones. That’s a 26% increase over just two years ago. Of those smartphone owners, 4 out of 5 use their phones to make purchases. Plus, it’s not just smartphones people are using to shop; it is estimated that a third of U.S. consumers own tablet devices and use those to make purchases, too. Businesses that are making it difficult for these mobile consumers to visit their sites are missing out on sales.

Say Joe the Plumber is in his truck, he’s busy, and he needs to find the closest store that sells flooglebinders. He’ll look at his phone or his iPad to see where he needs to go, and if the website he finds is difficult to navigate because it is not optimized for mobile use, he’s going to look elsewhere – quickly. If that was your website that Joe the Plumber cast aside, that could be your flooglebinder still sitting on the shelf at the end of the day.

The modern world is a fast-moving place, and if a website can’t be viewed on the go, it risks not being viewed at all.